Italy's Renzi expects government in place by Monday

Italian
Prime Minister-designate Renzi talks to reporters at the end of
the consultations with leaders of Italian parties at the
Parliament in RomeThomson
Reuters

By Roberto Landucci

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister-designate Matteo Renzi
said he expected his new government to be in place in time for a
formal vote of confidence in parliament on Monday, after he
wrapped up consultations with the main political parties.

"I'm convinced that the conditions are in place to do good work,"
Renzi told reporters on Wednesday after completing talks with
parliamentary groups.

He said he expected to give President Giorgio Napolitano his
formal acceptance of the mandate to form a government on
Saturday, when he is likely to present his cabinet.

Renzi, who met Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco after his
meetings with the parties, said he planned to spend Thursday
working on a policy document and would continue to work on naming
his future ministers.

However, he declined to answer questions about the possible
identity of his cabinet following media speculation that he was
having trouble filling key posts including the vital economy
ministry portfolio.

The economy minister will play a vital role as a contact point
for Italy's European partners and a source close to Renzi said
aides were in contact with both Napolitano's office and the
European Central Bank.

A spokesman for the central bank in Frankfurt said, however, that
it was not the ECB's job to take part in the formation of a
government.

Italian media have speculated on a wide range of possible
candidates but there was no word on whether he would pick a
politician with experience in running a large administration or a
technocrat similar to the outgoing incumbent, former Bank of
Italy official Fabrizio Saccomanni.

"We need a high-profile figure. Whether it's a politician is not
the main issue," the source said.

Renzi has promised a radical policy program with reforms to the
electoral and constitutional system, to the labor market, and to
the public administration and tax systems within the first four
months of taking office.

However, details have been sketchy, and there has been particular
attention on his likely attitude to EU budget rules, following
several public statements suggesting he would like to breach
strict deficit limits to gain more room for his reform agenda and
investment in infrastructure.

OPPOSITION

Renzi was given a mandate to form a government after his
center-left Democratic Party forced his rival Enrico Letta to
resign as prime minister last week following heavy criticism over
the slow pace of economic reform. After years of tight austerity
policies aimed at controlling a 2 trillion euro public debt,
Italy's stagnant economy is barely growing, with unemployment,
particularly among young people, at record levels.

Renzi is expected to form a coalition based around his own
center-left Democratic Party and the small center-right NCD
party, which supported Letta, but he has also met parties
expected to be in the opposition.

On Wednesday he met both former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi,
with whom he has already reached an agreement on reforms to the
electoral and constitutional system, and Beppe Grillo, leader of
the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.

Both will go into opposition, but the reaction from the two
leaders was starkly different, with Berlusconi emerging from the
meeting in conciliatory mood.

"We will be in opposition, but we will support individual
measures if we consider they are good for the country,"
Berlusconi, with whom Renzi has already reached an accord on
electoral law reform, told reporters.

By contrast Grillo delivered a blistering attack on the would-be
prime minister during a 10-minute meeting that was broadcast
live.

"You're not a credible person. Whatever you say isn't credible,"
Grillo told the 39-year-old Renzi, who struggled to get a word
in. "You say a thing one day and then go back on it the next day.
You're a young boy, but at the same time you're old," he said.

(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer; Writing by James
Mackenzie; Editing by Will Waterman)

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